EKS

Learn how to add and manage an Amazon EKS (Elastic Kubernetes Service) cluster in StrongDM.

For an overview of the available Kubernetes features and supported platforms, please see our Kubernetes guide.

Overview

This guide describes how to manage access to an Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) cluster via the StrongDM Admin UI. Adding an EKS cluster takes place in both the Admin UI and in the AWS Management Console.

If you would like to learn more about how to enable automatic resource discovery within your Kubernetes cluster, or use privilege levels to allow users to request various levels of access to the Kubernetes cluster, please read the Kubernetes Discovery and Privilege Levels section to learn more about those features prior to following this configuration guide.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure that the EKS endpoint you are connecting is accessible from one of your StrongDM gateways or relays. See our guide on nodes for more information.

If you are using kubectl 1.30 or higher, it will default to using websockets, which the StrongDM client did not support prior to version 45.35.0. This can be remedied by taking one of the following actions:

• Update your client to version 45.35.0 or greater.

• Set the environment variable KUBECTL_REMOTE_COMMAND_WEBSOCKETS=false to restore the previous behavior in your kubectl.

Cluster Setup

You can find information about your cluster in the AWS Management Console on your EKS cluster’s general configuration page.

Get the AWS Username and Access Credentials

1. In the AWS Management Console, go to Identity and Access Management (IAM) > Users and create a new access key ID and secret access key for the IAM user who will be accessing the EKS cluster. It does not need any specific rights.

2. Additionally, copy the User Amazon Resource Name (ARN) because you will need it later.

Grant That User the Ability to Interact With Your Cluster

1. While authenticated to the cluster using your existing connection method, run the following command to edit the aws-auth ConfigMap (YML file) within Kubernetes: kubectl edit -n kube-system configmap/aws-auth

2. Copy the following snippet and paste it into the file under the data: heading:

       mapUsers: |
         - userarn: <USER_ARN>/<USERNAME>
           username: <USERNAME>
           groups:
             - <GROUP>

3. In that snippet, do the following:

   1. Replace <USER_ARN> with the ARN of the IAM user you created.

   2. Replace <USERNAME> with the IAM username.

   3. Under groups:, specify the appropriate group for the permissions level you want this StrongDM connection to have (see Kubernetes Roles for more details).

   Example:

     mapUsers: |
       - userarn: arn:aws:iam::123456789012:user/aliceglick
         username: aliceglick
         groups:
           - system:masters

The name under groups: in the mapUsers block must match the subject name in the desired ClusterRoleBinding, not the name of the ClusterRoleBinding itself. For example, if a default EKS cluster has a ClusterRoleBinding called cluster-admin, with a group named system:masters, then the name system:masters must be input in the mapUsers block under groups:.

In the following example of the default ClusterRoleBinding for cluster-admin on an unconfigured EKS cluster, you can see that the group name under Subjects is system:masters.

Name:         cluster-admin
Labels:       kubernetes.io/bootstrapping=rbac-defaults
Annotations:  rbac.authorization.kubernetes.io/autoupdate: true
Role:
  Kind:  ClusterRole
  Name:  cluster-admin
Subjects:
  Kind   Name            Namespace
  ----   ----            ---------
  Group  system:masters

Also note that in the YML file, the indentation is critically important. If the indentation is wrong, the Edit command does not trigger an error message, but the change fails. Note that mapUsers should be at the same indent level as mapRoles in that file.

1. Save the file and exit your text editor.

Resource Configuration in StrongDM

This section provides instructions for adding the resource in either the StrongDM Admin UI, CLI, Terraform provider, or SDKs.

Admin UI

Set up and Manage With the Admin UI

If using the Admin UI to add the resource to StrongDM, use the following steps.

1. Log in to the Admin UI and go to Infrastructure > Clusters.

2. Click the Add cluster button.

3. Select EKS as the Server Type and set other resource properties to configure how the StrongDM relay connects.

   
4. Click Create to save the resource.

The Admin UI updates and shows your new cluster in a green or yellow state. Green indicates a successful connection. If it is yellow, click the pencil icon to the right of the server to reopen the Connection Details screen. Then click Diagnostics to determine where the connection is failing.

CLI

Terraform

SDKs

Resource properties

The EKS cluster type has the following properties.

Property	Requirement	Description
Display Name	Required	Meaningful name to display the resource throughout StrongDM; exclude special characters like quotes (") or angle brackets (< or >)
Cluster Type	Required	Elastic Kubernetes Service
Proxy Cluster	Required	Defaults to "None (use gateways)"; if using proxy clusters, select the appropriate cluster to proxy traffic to this resource
Endpoint	Required	API server endpoint of the EKS cluster in the format <ID>.<REGION>.eks.amazonaws.com, such as A95FBC180B680B58A6468EF360D16E96.yl4.us-west-2.eks.amazonaws.com; relay server should be able to connect to your EKS endpoint
Connectivity Mode	Required	Select either Virtual Networking Mode, which lets users connect to the resource with a software-defined, IP-based network; or Loopback Mode, which allows users to connect to the resource using the local loopback adapter in their operating system; this field is shown if Virtual Networking Mode enabled for your organization
IP Address	Optional	If Virtual Networking Mode is the selected connectivity mode, an IP address value in the configured Virtual Networking Mode subnet in the organization network settings; if Loopback Mode is the selected connectivity mode, an IP address value in the configured Loopback IP range in the organization network settings (by default, 127.0.0.1); if not specified, an available IP address in the configured IP address space for the selected connectivity mode will be automatically assigned; this field is shown if Virtual Networking Mode and/or multi-loopback mode is enabled for your organization
Port Override	Optional	If Virtual Networking Mode is the selected connectivity mode, a port value between 1 and 65535 that is not already in use by another resource with the same IP address; if Loopback Mode is the selected connectivity mode, a port value between 1024 to 64999 that is not already in use by another resource with the same IP address; when left empty with Virtual Networking Mode, the system assigns the default port to this resource; when left empty for Loopback Mode, an available port that is not already in use by another resource is assigned; preferred port also can be modified later from the Port Overrides settings
DNS	Optional	If Virtual Networking Mode is the selected connectivity mode, a unique hostname alias for this resource; when set, causes the desktop app to display this resource's human-readable DNS name (for example, k8s.my-organization-name) instead of the bind address that includes IP address and port (for example, 100.64.100.100:5432)
Secret Store	Optional	Credential store location; defaults to Strong Vault
Access Key ID	Required	Access key ID, such as AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE, from the AWS key pair that you created in Step 1
Secret Access Key	Required	Secret access key, such as wJalrXUtnFEMI/K7MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY, from the AWS key pair that you created in Step 1
Server CA	Optional	Pasted server certificate (plaintext or Base64-encoded), or imported PEM file; you can either generate the server certificate on the API server or get it in Base64 format from your existing Kubernetes configuration (kubeconfig) file
Cluster Name	Required	Name of the EKS cluster
Region	Required	Region of the EKS cluster, such as us-west-1
Healthcheck Namespace	Optional	If enabled for your organization, the namespace used for the resource healthcheck; defaults to default if empty; supplied credentials must have the rights to perform one of the following kubectl commands in the specified namespace: get pods, get deployments, or describe namespace
Enable Resource Discovery	Optional	Enables automatic discovery within this cluster
Authentication	Required	Authentication method to access the cluster; select either Leased Credential (default) or Identity Aliases (to use the Identity Aliases of StrongDM users to access the cluster)
Identity Set	Required	Displays if Authentication is set to Identity Aliases; select an Identity Set name from the list
Healthcheck Username	Required	If Authentication is set to Identity Aliases, the username that should be used to verify StrongDM's connection to it; username must already exist on the target cluster
Assume Role ARN	Optional	Role ARN, such as arn:aws:iam::000000000000:role/RoleName, that allows users accessing this resource to assume a role using AWS AssumeRole functionality
Assume Role External ID	Optional	External ID if leveraging an external ID to users assuming a role from another account; if used, it must be used in conjunction with Assume Role ARN; see the AWS documentation on using external IDs for more information
Resource Tags	Optional	Resource Tags consisting of key-value pairs <KEY>=<VALUE> (for example, env=dev)

Display name

Some Kubernetes management interfaces, such as Visual Studio Code, do not function properly with cluster names containing spaces. If you run into problems, please choose a Display Name without spaces.

AWS credentials

When your users connect to this cluster, they have exactly the rights permitted by this AWS key pair. See AWS documentation for more information.

Secret Store options

By default, server credentials are stored in StrongDM. However, these credentials can also be saved in a secrets management tool.

Non-StrongDM options appear in the Secret Store dropdown menu if they are created under Settings > Secrets Management. When you select another Secret Store type, its unique properties display. For more details, see Configure Secret Store Integrations.

Test the Connection

1. After creating the EKS cluster resource in the Admin UI, navigate to Infrastructure > Clusters and locate your newly added cluster. The health indicator should turn green once connectivity and credentials are validated.

2. On a test client using the StrongDM desktop app or CLI, connect to the cluster and run a basic command such as kubectl get nodes. Confirm the output returns your nodes and the connection is routed via StrongDM.

3. If discovery is enabled, in the Admin UI, verify that namespaces, roles, and service accounts appear under the cluster’s Discovery tab. This indicates StrongDM successfully queried the Kubernetes API.

4. If the health status remains red or yellow:

   • Verify the cluster’s endpoint, region, and IAM credentials are correct and reachable from your relay or gateway.

   • Check certificate authority and client credentials if using TLS authentication.

   • Confirm healthcheck_namespace exists and the identity alias user (if specified) has access.

   • Review logs in the Diagnostics tab for authentication or network errors.

Once connectivity is verified and you can perform Kubernetes operations successfully, the EKS cluster resource is ready. You can assign roles, apply policies, and monitor access through StrongDM.

Help

If you encounter issues, please consult the StrongDM Help Center.

Be prepared to provide the following information to StrongDM Support, so that they can inspect logs and confirm node and resource health:

• Resource name or ID

• CLI error output or logs

• Node name and region

• Timestamps of failed attempts